[ad_1]
A day after a video emerged from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya University in Gorakhpur of the handling of the vice-chancellor and registrar in charge on campus, police said on Saturday that eight accused have been arrested and sent to judicial custody.
This came as some students and teachers said that the lack of police action over a similar incident on July 13 may have encouraged students to protest against fee hikes at the university and led to the incident.
An FIR has been registered against 22 defendants, eight of whom have been expelled for their alleged role in Friday’s incident.
A day later, a heavy police force was deployed in and out of the campus. Another accused, a law student who allegedly grabbed VC Rajesh Singh by the neck, has been identified from the video.
It was learned that preparations were underway to expel the ninth student and send his name to the police to be included in the FIR.
While all the accused are said to be in league with the ABVP, the student body blamed Friday’s incident on “dictatorship and the insensitive attitude of the university administration towards student issues and the increase in fees” and demanded an investigation into the police action on them. ABVP National General Secretary Yagyavlakya Shukla demanded a detailed investigation into the incident and claimed that the police charge against the protesting students peacefully led to the scrap.
Shukla demanded full television footage of the incident, blaming the university’s “insensitive attitude” to the violence.
But a science faculty professor said, “If action is taken in time on our complaint about the July 13 incident, these students will not have the courage (for Friday’s violence).”
Asked about the earlier incident, Chief Superintendent Satyapal Singh, who recorded the flight report on Friday’s incident, said, “The university has done everything it can and has suspended four students for the July 13 incident. There is a system for everything. If one has to raise a case, there are ways to do so. We have not yet received an official note from these students.”
On what led to the fight on 13 July, Singh said: “We called them for a dialogue when they were sitting outside the campus. Suddenly they attacked us. I was hurt – there is a video of that – and two other members of the monitoring board were also injured. We filed a request at the local police station for FIR but we were told that an investigation is underway. I don’t want to say much.”
In the alleged application filed on July 13, Department Officer, Cantonment Yogendra Singh said, “The FIR was not recorded because nothing happened then. We investigated. There was no evidence of any violence.”
“Teacher Hatuchahit Hota Hai Aisi Ghatnaw Se (Teachers become frustrated because of such incidents),” said Ved Prakash Rai, a law school professor who was in the middle of the two incidents while trying to save the VC from being attacked.
While professors are reluctant to speak out, students, including those associated with other student organizations, allege bias in policing because the protesters were associated with a particular student group. “We have called for action to be taken against those who assaulted teachers and others, including the local police responsible in Chokhi on 13 July,” said one student. “Even the professors have applied but the police have done nothing. The students are facing many problems – they have to wait for semesters to get their results, lack of facilities, fee increases, etc. But we can’t even protest, as the notices reach our house.”
And while four students were suspended after the July 13 incident, the sources said that recalling their suspension was one of the demands of the protesting students on Friday.
Several students said they had a long list of applications but were now more worried about the bad name the accidents would bring to the university.
A third-year undergraduate student at the university said, “We are in the fifth semester of our bachelor’s degree, but we have not yet obtained the result of the third semester exam.” We have many issues but we don’t agree with what happened yesterday. Somehow we want to complete our graduation here. I will never go back (here) for PG. Incidents like this will affect the value of our grade.”
Her colleague (students’ names withheld to protect identity) said they would prefer BHU or some college in Delhi if they were able to get merit.
While the fee increase was 100 rupees per semester, she said the bigger problems were that there weren’t even feeble facilities. She noted that BBA students are the most affected by the fee increase – it has been increased from 18,000 rupees per term to 50,000 rupees per term, she said.
The proctor said the decision to increase fees was taken only for “self-financed courses”, for which the university receives no government aid. “I cannot give the exact height but I can assure you it is still much lower than most universities, and only for self-funded courses,” said the observer.
Earlier, VC Rajesh Singh told the media that the problem is only with the ‘undisciplined’ students or those who are ‘not even students’ at the university. He said that there is a dialogue and actions will be taken in accordance with the law.
[ad_2]
